Mercedes and Red Bull have apparently discovered a trick that can gain a few hundredths in qualifying – the FIA has now intervened for safety reasons
After there were rumors before the start of the 2026 season that Mercedes and Red Bull had found a trick with the new Formula 1 engine, the two manufacturers are now once again at the center of a possible gimmick. However, this time it’s not about the compression ratio.
In fact, The Race reports that Mercedes and Red Bull are said to have found another trick that could have given them an advantage of up to a few hundredths of a second over a fast lap in qualifying – but has now been banned by the FIA.
Specifically, it’s about the battery. The regulations actually stipulate that the available power must be reduced by 50 kilowatts every second as soon as the battery is empty. This is intended to prevent the electrical power from dropping from 100 to zero percent in one fell swoop.
However, a trick allegedly allowed Mercedes and Red Bull to circumvent this reduction, which exists for safety reasons. This meant that it was possible to use maximum power again at the end of a qualifying lap, even though the battery was already almost empty.
The reason for this is that the requirement for gradual reduction does not apply if the MGU-K has to be switched off in an emergency. However, the rules do not clearly define the exact circumstances under which this switch-off may take place.
This is why it was specified that the MGU-K may only be reactivated after one minute following a switch-off by the driver. For this reason, the trick was only used at the end of a qualifying lap because the MGU-K was no longer needed afterwards anyway.
So Mercedes and Red Bull’s approach was not illegal, but the trick did lead to potentially dangerous situations because the cars were very slow on the track after the MGU-K was switched off.
In addition, Alexander Albon from the Mercedes customer team Williams allegedly stopped on the track during practice in Suzuka as a result of this trick. According to The Race, the FIA therefore decided to put a stop to the procedure for safety reasons.
This means that it is still possible to switch off the MGU-K, but only if there is a demonstrable problem. The 60-second rule for reactivation also remains in place.
